What Makes Cosmetic Bonding Turn Brown?

I had cosmetic bonding done a little over two months ago. I wanted to improve the look/ color of my teeth without going with a full veneer. They were almost a yellow hue. I should also add that I’m only 26. I know teeth will change color with age, but I don’t think I’ve hit the age yet where discoloration is normal. In any case, the dentist said this was a good enough solution for now, so we did just my two front teeth to start. I initially thought they looked pretty good, but now they’ve got kind of a brownish tint to them. Is it possible the dentist used expired materials on me? If that isn’t it, what caused this and how do I fix it?

Thank you,

Tara

Dear Tara,

You’ve asked some pretty good questions here. All teeth, whether they’re your natural teeth or teeth that have had restorations or cosmetic bonding, will change color over the years. Color doesn’t normally shift in natural teeth when someone is your age, but genetics plays a role in that, as does how your teeth were formed. Habits make a difference too. For example, you’ll pick up more stains with things like coffee, cigarettes, wine, and tea. Generally speaking, they’re surface stains, meaning they can be polished off. However, people also respond well to whitening, but again, this depends on why the teeth are discolored in the first place. Usually, it’s the yellower stains versus the browner stains that take to whitening the best, so it’s somewhat odd that you didn’t have this done as your first line of defense.

As for the color they are now, again, they will pick up stains over time, but that usually occurs over a period of years, not months. Your habits will play a role in this too, but still, months is very extreme. When cosmetic bonding material is old, it doesn’t really change color, though. It degrades and becomes difficult to use. You’d have more trouble with the material not staying put than you would with color. It sounds more like something happened to the surface of the cosmetic bonding. It should start out as a nice glassy finish, and when it’s nice and solid like that, it’ll resist stains well. If the material never got that finish or if it was scuffed up during the polishing process, then it would pick up stains more.

The bottom line is that there was something wrong with the work to begin with. You may have contributed to it with habits, so you’ll want to be mindful of that in the future, but they shouldn’t be staining now. Your dentist may be able to polish off the stains, which will make them look ok again for a while, but they’ll come right back because the defect hasn’t been fixed. He’ll need to redo them.

Give him a second shot at this. If the stains come back again, visit a cosmetic dentist to have it redone and you’ll have better results.